The rise and fall of…

Did anyone notice I was gone? I guess not.
I have quite a bit of catching up to do, so I thought I’ll start out by doing good on the comment I made to Tripeak (3 weeks ago) about posting a Fantastic 4 review. So here goes.
I saw the movie on the weekend it premiered, so I am a bit late in posting. In my defense, I had the post saved to my drafts and meant to publish it before my week long absence, but never got around to doing it.
Nevertheless, I’ll be brief and do my best to remain objective and not come across as a comic book geek… which incidentally I am not. Well, I am not 15 anymore… although I know at least 4 people out there who would disagree.
There’s not much I want to say about Tim Story’s adaptation of the legendary Marvel Comic. If you are a die-hard Fantastic 4 fan you probably came out of the theatre underwhelmed and wondering at what might, and could, and should have been. Some may even call it a disaster, second only to X-men 3.
Though certainly not my favourite comic book, The Fantastic 4 always had a special place in my heart. And perhaps that is my downfall… I expected it to be more, and deep down I wanted it to be more. I am clearly self-indulged and have hedonistic tendencies.
If the first time you’ve heard of The Fantastic 4 was back in 2005, then you will regard The Rise of the Silver Surfer as highly entertaining. Some might even think of it as good. Enough to give the kid in you chills, thrills and marvels, it is better than Fantastic Four 1. There was plenty of action and the story moved at a good pace, despite the somewhat mediocre acting. Take your kids if you have any. They’ll love it.
From a purely male perspective, whose testosterone levels spike every time a beautiful women gets within a 50 meters of where I am, I would have liked to have seen a little more of Jessica Alba (The Invisible Women) than what was delivered. (Is there a contradiction hidden in that statement?)
The Silver Surfer was, I thought, supposed to be a main character in the film and yet his role was scaled down to increase time for the Richards (Mr Stretchy) & Storm drama. So much for something more focused on the Silver Surfers’ intent to destroy the Earth.
It really irked me that so much time was dedicated to Johnny Storm (aka The Human Torch). I have nothing against Chris Evans (He is hot, no pun intended, ladies), but why the focus on his character?
There are some funny moments in the first half of the movie and the jokes are non-stop between the characters, albeit somewhat sitcom-like. (I especially enjoyed the Arnold-like one liners delivered by Michael Chiklis)
However… The absolute tragedy/ mockery of Galactus must be a sore point for the Marvel fans out there. Galactus is one of the b-i-g-g-e-s-t villains in the Marvel universe. The movie does not do him justice. Depicting him as a white cloud is in my opinion one of the biggest flaws in the movie. What was Stan Lee smoking at the time? A heroin-laced reefer? And to have him taken out/defeated like that is an absolute insult!
I doubt I will want to see it again before it comes out on DVD, but don’t take my word for it. I am a sucker for special effects.

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